Blethering Blonde

There were a lot of options on offer today from  Air na Creagan Mountaineering Club   with other members off having adventures in Glen Shiel and the Mamores. We'd opted to stay local doing a walk on Irvine Bogside and Garnock Floods which Alan L has been enticing us with. Irvine station was the start point for Alan L, Eleanor, Gail, Steve, Tracey, Noah and Honey dog.  The first section of the walk follows the National Cycle Route 7 which also doubles up with the Ayrshire Coastal Path .  When you get to Irvine Golf Club, it's time to leave the NCR7 and head over to Irvine Bogside SSSI .  This also happens to have the abandoned Irvine Bogside Racecourse which used to host the Scottish Grand National. Heading south on the old racecourse track You really feel like you are in the middle of nowhere as you make your way round the old track looking over the River Garnock to the Ardeer peninsula and the now empty Big Idea. Looking over the River Garnock to the Big Idea

For some reason I have the League of Gentlemen in my head when I think of this hill.......... this is a local hill for local people...... Well it is only half an hour's drive from home. Kaim Hill sits within Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park.  Even though I've lived in the area for over 8 years it's not a hill that we've ever been up.  My research on routes found very few official ones written up though there is this one on the Park's website which formed the basis of the route we were planning. Steve and I met Carol and Don at Fairlie Station.  There is a small car park here but I also like the fact that we could do this very easily by train. The start of the route has you going through a lane that looks like you're wandering into someone's front garden and then into a fairy glen with a lovely babbling stream.  Soon enough we were leaving the woods and out onto the moor.  We decided as there wasn't much in the way of actual path th